Chicken on Lemongrass Skewers

This was the second instalment of a night of great summer thai dishes! This followed on perfectly from the egg rolls and were absolutely delicious.

The way the minced chicken became infused with the lemon grass skewer was delicious!!

These would be great on the barbie too. We're thinking of trying a version with minced prawn.

Stay tuned for the recipe!

Ginger Roasted Rainbow Trout with Fennel and Peppers.

My favourite fish to cook at the moment is whole rainbow trout. This time around I marinated it with heaps of grated ginger, soy, honey and sesame oil. I heated a roasting dish over the stove and seared the fish and removed it. In the juices, I tossed around the sliced fennel and peppers and placed the fish on top to roast away in a moderate oven for about half an hour.

At the last minute we threw sliced cucumber on top and all of sudden if felt like a great japanese dish. The fennel went so well with the asian flavours which I hadn't tried before. The sauce was very light and fresh with a good kick of ginger that went beautifully with the rich trout.

Grilled Tuna Steaks with Pine Nut Chilli Crust and Braised Fennel

We have been cooking fennel recently and this dish was absolutely delicious. I lightly fried sliced fennel (quite big chucks) with salt and pepper. When it was starting to moisten I threw in some white wine and chucked it in the oven. Then I got working on the rest. I chopped up pine nuts, garlic, chilli and parsley. When the fennel was looking pretty tender (after about 20 minutes) I grilled the tuna steaks, aiming for medium rare. Then when they were resting I threw in olive oil and fried the pine nut chilli mix til crunchy. This came together so easily and sounds pretty posh but it's still humble home style food to me!

Grilled Baby Squid Salad

This I made for my sister before she flew off back to London recently. Currently on a strict gluten, yeast, dairy free diet and heading back to the UK where good seafood is tough to find I thought this would be tasty. Dead simple and healthy. A huge mixed green and purple cabbage salad was mixed with some roasted cherry tomatoes (which I seasoned with salt, pepper and fennel seed). I grilled the baby squid, marinating them with white wine and parsley, salt, pepper and a bit of chili. Everyone ended up piling their plates with the salad then topping it with the freshly grilled squid. Delish! But I must admit I wish the squid was grilled on a barbie for that smokey flavour, a griddle pan just aint the same.

French Toast with Grilled Tomato, Avocado and Rocket

A delicious savoury take on french toast. This I made with a soft rye loaf which I soaked in a whipped egg mix, which was seasoned with salt and pepper. While I fried the eggy bread in a wee bit of olive oil, I grilled tomotoes. By the time Hannah brewed the atomic coffee and frothed the milk to perfection it was ready. Topped with chopped avo, rocket and a good drizzle of olive oil - a delicious and light take on French Toast. Of course crumbling ricotta and strips of fresh proscuito on top of this would be breathtaking, so I highly encourage that kind of behaviour.

Roast Pumpkin & Pine Nut Pasta

Hannah cooked up this delicious pasta last night. After roasting pumpkin that had been tossed with garlic, parsley, salt and pepper, she simply tossed it through some spelt pasta, with heaps of basil, grape tomatoes, olive and topped with pine-nuts and extra basil! So simple, healthy yet hearty!

Best Sausage Sanger!

O.K, this is really in here cause I love the photo, but this was delicious. Made on a great rustic barbie on Yonderfield (Hannah's family farm) these were good ol Italian pork and fennel sausages from A.C Butcher in Haberfield (yes I got them especially, the farm isn't in Haberfield, I just take sausage seriously). With grilled onions, fountain tomato sauce and rocket on a crusty baguette, I think it was the best sausage on a roll I'd ever had!